


we can break all the rules

by unbalancedlove



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Pining, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 02:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14463471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unbalancedlove/pseuds/unbalancedlove
Summary: mark can only think about how it’s appropriate that he’s having his first drink on a hotel room floor with that idiot. it just seems right, and after all this is only one of many firsts that they’ve shared.





	we can break all the rules

**Author's Note:**

> for rian, my wonderful wife who fell down markhyuck hell with me.
> 
> (this is completely unbeta'd so i'm sorry for any mistakes!)

mark is aggressively ignoring the nonstop buzzing of the notifications flooding his phone. he threw it aside once chenle entered their group chat to ask who stole his cup ramen and accidentally set off an nct civil war (the third one that week).

he’s lucky enough to get his own hotel room this time around, given that he always loses the game of rock paper scissors they play at the lobby to decide. mark wants to use this rare moment of peace and quiet to the fullest. it isn’t that he didn’t like hanging around the other members, but there are times where he couldn’t even hear himself think.

plus, he wants to reflect on his big fuck up from a few weeks back.

he reaches over to his phone to slam the do not disturb button when three loud knocks make him flinch.

“i didn’t do it, it was hyuck!” he yells and rolls over, facing away from the door.

“i am hyuck you asshole, open the fuck up,” his best friend’s annoyed voice comes from the other side, and mark freezes. “way to throw me under the bus like that, by the way.”

that was the first full sentence that donghyuck had said to him all week, and mark is equal parts relieved and confused by the mean familiarity in his tone. that’s how he knows that donghyuck is on good terms with him.

but it doesn’t make sense.

there is a long pause, and then: “what do you want?”

“i wanna talk,” he replies, sounding more like the awkward quiet donghyuck he had been recently.

mark realizes that he was foolish to think that he could get a moment of peace when he has lee donghyuck for a best friend. he hops off the bed and drags his feet to the door.

donghyuck’s eyes are glued to his phone. he’s wearing a black hoodie that mark is pretty sure does not belong to him, and his cheeks are still flushed from the shower he must have taken before heading over here. the mysterious plastic bag hanging off his arm is what really gets mark’s attention, though.

“what is that?” he asks cautiously.

“good to see you too.” donghyuck still hasn’t looked up. “let me in first.”

he moves aside, and donghyuck invites himself to mark’s floor. mark sits down across from him, still scared of what donghyuck has in store for him.

after a lot of deliberation, he finally pulls out a familiar green bottle out of the bag and mark gasps.

“where did you fucking get that?” mark whisper shouts. is he purposely trying to get him in trouble with their managers? because that was the quickest way to do it.

“let’s just say my roommate needs to do a better job at watching his stuff,” donghyuck replies slyly. stealing from one of their hyungs. that’s even worse.

“hyuck, you better take this back,” he threatens, but his voice breaks halfway through the sentence.

donghyuck crosses his arms. “no.”

they get into a silent staring contest, and mark is a little taken back by the seriousness in donghyuck’s eyes.

“what are you planning to do with it, then?”

donghyuck runs over to the minibar and picks up two glasses. “we’re going to resolve that….thing as men.”

men who are too embarrassed to say it out loud, mark thinks to himself. “where did you learn that from?”

“that’s what johnny hyung says every single time someone gets into a fight,” comes donghyuck’s swift reply. he’s standing over him, with the two glasses in his hand and an anxious expression creating creases on his forehead. “so are you in or not?” he pleads, a little whiny.

mark gulps. “i guess.”

he doesn’t miss the way donghyuck’s hands shake as he pours the clear liquid and slides it over to him. they click the glasses together lightly and mark closes his eyes and scrunches his nose before downing it all in one go. he prepares for the worst, but besides the initial light burning sensation as it goes down his throat, it doesn’t even taste like anything in particular.

across from him, donghyuck is coughing in disgust, and mark can only think about how it’s appropriate that he’s having his first drink on a hotel room floor with that idiot. it just seems right, and after all this is only one of many firsts that they’ve shared.

in fact, it was another first that was the reason they’re here, drinking from yuta hyung’s stolen bottle.

“you okay there, hyuck?” he asks, half teasing, half concerned. donghyuck responds by downing another shot.

mark totally admits that he’s clueless about a lot of things, but the minimum amount of soju that you need to put in your system to get drunk is not one of them. tolerance varies from one person to another, but two shots do not justify what donghyuck is about to say next.

“why did you kiss me that night?” he says, words tripping over themselves in an exaggerated slur, an obvious bad impression of jaehyun after their hyungs took him out drinking for the first time.

his best friend is a horrible actor, and out of all of his stupid plans, this one was the stupidest by far. who came up with this? jaemin? just to mess with him?

mark fidgets with the glass in his hand for a long minute. it must have been eating donghyuck up so much, and he feels horrible for not speaking up first. while donghyuck was the connoisseur of physical affection, mark assumed the role of the talker, the one who initiates the gross conversations about feelings so donghyuck never has to, the one who sneaks in a few shy _i love you_ s and _i missed you_ s that he doesn’t expect a response to because he knows they’re mutual. but there are some things that even he can’t fix with pretty words.

ugly things like the pain of going through your first love, the sudden attraction that suddenly pulls you towards a person that has been here all along.

\---------------------

mark is sixteen when he first realizes that he wants to kiss donghyuck.

he knows that he’d probably wanted to do it long before that, but the moment where he has the epiphany that sends him falling face first towards the biggest and worst crush of his life will always stay fresh in his mind.

“what are you sulking about?” a voice whispers in mark’s ear, to which he responds to with a screech and a blind violent shove in the direction of the perpetrator.

it’s donghyuck, and he is relentless, picking himself up from where he was thrown him and wrapping his arms around mark. “answer the question, mark lee.” god, not the whiny voice.

“i’m not sulking,” mark murmurs. it would be great if he could go a single day without donghyuck invading his personal space. across the practice room, jeno is taking a nap on jaemin’s lap. _that’s what hyuck thinks our relationship is like_ , he thinks to himself.

and it’s annoying how quickly he caught on to the fact that mark is feeling a little off. one of their trainers was unnecessarily mean to him today, and her words have been looping in his mind all day.

“the tears at the corner of your eyes are telling me a different story,” donghyuck presses on, and then puckers his lips and leans for a kiss, his natural reflex to being in close proximity of anyone’s cheeks.

mark really, really isn’t in the mood for this shit today.

“hyuck-” he turns to face him, but when their eyes meet he forgets how to speak entirely. _oh._ he didn’t realize how close donghyuck really is. their noses are almost touching, he could almost see his own panicked reflection in the deep brown of donghyuck’s eyes.

he’s scared, because for the first time the millimeters that separate their lips feel more like miles.

“you look stupid and ugly when you cry,” donghyuck finally spits out. he’s looking away. “don’t do it again.”

he lets him go. he’s already locked onto his next target: jeno. mark watches absentmindedly as donghyuck tries to sneak up on poor unsuspecting jeno and getting smacked away by jaemin.

that idiot. for a second there, he really wanted to kiss that idiot. and the worst part is? he still does.

 

maybe it’s just a little crush, mark tells himself for the first few days, then the next few weeks, the next few months.

it’s not a big deal, really. everyone around him is constantly falling in and out of love. living with taeyong hyung was made him realize that he was attracted to boys. donghyuck himself has admitted to crushing on at least three different trainees. it never sticks.

but this one does, every morning when he wakes up he’s the first thing on his mind, he’s stealing glances throughout the day (when hyuck isn’t trying to crush him), his feelings seep into the lyrics he’s writing. everything is donghyuck donghyuck donghyuck all the time.

 _well_ , he then rationalizes, _that’s just because donghyuck is around you all the goddamn time._

how are you supposed to get over your crush when he pets your hair and pinches your cheeks and tries to kiss you on a daily basis? it’s just not fair.

 

mark is seventeen when he stops making excuses.

 **LEE DONGHYUCK (SM ENTERTAINMENT):** taeil hyung says stop hiding in the bathroom.

liar. donghyuck’s the only person who noticed he was gone.

 **MARK LEE:** i’m not hiding.

 **LEE DONGHYUCK (SM ENTERTAINMENT):**  you’ve been in there for fifteen minutes. your average shitting time is around three and a half minutes.

 **MARK LEE:** you’re disgusting.

 **LEE DONGHYUCK (SM ENTERTAINMENT):** hey, i’m the one who gets the bathroom after you in the morning.

it’s annoying how he can’t even avoid donghyuck without donghyuck being the first person to notice.

the truth is, everything has gone to shit (no pun intended) since he finally admitted to himself that lee donghyuck is the love of his life.

“my life was easier when I just wanted to kiss him. actually no, it was easier when I just hated him and prayed every night that he would quit and pursue a different career. maybe a barista?  he’d look cute in an apron,” he pauses. “my life was easier when i was still in canada.”

“i would also want to move to another country if i developed romantic feelings for a demon,” doyoung hyung supplies unhelpfully.

actually, no one, out of the fifteen people in his group, provided helpful advice.

“i do not understand what the problem is,” says jaemin, who has somehow managed to get not one, but two boyfriends.

“how does one turn their crush into a….beyond what a crush is.” mark’s ears turn red every time he tries to say that word out loud.

“step one, you go up to the person and kiss them.”

“what is step two?” mark asks when jaemin doesn’t continue.

“what? there is no step two. hyung, you’re making this a lot more complicated than it actually is.”

mark huffs. “maybe things are just as complicated in real life as they are in my head.” _for once._ “your advice is  useless.”

jaemin shrugs. “you say that, but i have two boyfriends and you have zero.”

he has a point.

and so, this is how mark ends up cooped up inside the bathtub during the end of promotions party that they were throwing in their dorm, trying to avoid donghyuck the same way he has been for the past few weeks.

he’s terrified. of his feelings, of what this could mean for their friendship in the future, of the possibility of living with this heartbreak for the rest of their time as groupmates. his own personal hell. he doesn’t consider the other outcome, he can’t get his hopes up like that.

the door is unlocking from the outside, and mark prays that it’s not jaemin with more stupid advice.

“oof, you’re looking kinda rough,” donghyuck winces as he closes the door behind him. perfect.

mark’s arms tighten around his legs. “i actually look great today, thank you very much.”

donghyuck shakes his head and stands around awkwardly before something catches his eye. “have you been using my toothbrush again?”

mark rolls his eyes. “for the last time, i’ve never laid my hand on your gross toothbrush.”

“well someone must have, it’s always wet when it’s my turn to wash up in the morning.” he picks it up and takes a whiff. “it smells like you.”

“how could a toothbrush smell like anything?” mark stands up and turns to leave. “you’re always picking fights over the stupidest shit, i don’t feel like dealing with you right now.”

donghyuck blocks the door. “that’s all i am to you right? just a nuisance?”

mark blinks. “i didn-”

“that’s why you’ve been avoiding me this whole time.” he shoves him, and mark backs himself into a wall as donghyuck steps closer. “yeah, i’m not that stupid.”

“it’s not what you think it is,” mark hisses. his heart is pounding, donghyuck’s face is dangerously close to his again. the exact situation he was trying to avoid in the first place.

“what is it then?” his best friend whispers, and there is a hint of fear in his voice. an unfamiliar sense of insecurity that scares mark. he never ever wants to see donghyuck look like this again.

he flushes all his reservations down the toilet and finally takes that leap.

donghyuck lets out the softest gasp, and then his eyes flutter shut. he doesn’t move away, but he stands still and lets mark kiss him the way he’s wanted to for over a year. he can’t think of anything besides the taste of donghyuck’s mouth and the softness of his cheeks as he gently cups his face.

when they break apart, mark’s brain suddenly crawls back into his head and he can finally see the confusion and panic filling donghyuck’s face. mark’s not sure if it’s because he stopped or because he did it in the first place, and now was not the right time to find out.

“i, uh, i’ve got to-” he doesn’t bother finishing the sentence before bolting out of the tiny bathroom.

\---------------------

“if you don’t answer the question, i’m going to smash this bottle against your head,” fake-drunk donghyuck threatens.

“maybe i don’t want to settle this thing as men,” mark mumbles sheepishly as he reaches for the bottle. “maybe i just want to pretend it didn’t happen so you and i could go back to being best friends.”

“best friend? that’s all?”

“menace? partner in crime? winner of the world’s most annoying maknae two years in a row?” mark’s not really sure about where donghyuck is going with this.

“hyung, i might have asked the wrong question.” donghyuck closes his eyes, his face is turning the same shade as his hair. “i came here to ask you if….you could do it again.”

“oh.” did the temperature of the room go up ten degrees? “oh, oh, oh i didn’t. i didn’t realize that. oh. my god.”

“i-if you think it’s a mistake i’ll just head back and you can pretend that _this_ didn’t happen either sorry to bother you now excu-” he tries to get up but mark grabs him and pushes him back against the foot of the bed.

“should’ve spoken up sooner,” mark says before placing both of his hands on donghyuck’s shoulders and pressing the softest kiss at the corner of donghyuck’s mouth.

“you look so ugly from this angle, mark lee,” donghyuck breathes. he’s still blushing and he looks like he’s making a lot of effort to stop himself from giggling.

he initiates their third kiss, with a little more pressure this time. he’s still awkward at this but so is mark, whose breath is knocked out of him as soon as they touch again.

and that’s when mark knows that they don’t need words for everything, because donghyuck has been showering him with _i love you_ s all along.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading my very first nct fic!!!
> 
> come talk to me about markhyuck on [cc](https://curiouscat.me/puppylove) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/demonyukhei).


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